Francis b



i FRoIs B. PYE, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

PERMUTATION-LOCK.

Specifi cation of Letters Patent No. 4,406, dated March 7, 1846.

, declare that the following is a full ancl exact description thereof.

In my improvecl lock the key is surrounded by a hoop which is nearlyequal in depth to that of the bit of the key; this hoop however does notconstitute a perfect cylinder, an opening being left in it which is tobe occupied by theend of the bit when the key is inserted. Above thishoop there is a revolving circular plate that is received within agroove in the face plate or cover of the lock; through this plate thekey hole is made and it. is turned around by the bit of the key alongwith the hoop above named. The pin that receives the barrel of the keyis not in the center of the hoop and as it is turned around the actingpart of the bit projects beyond the hoop and operates upon a set oflevers which I denominate the key levers and raises these levers todifferent heights, governed of course by the arrangement of the parts ofwhich the bit of the key is composed, and upon which the permutation isdependent. As these levers are raised they act upon another set oflevers which I denominate the intermediate levers, and these operateupon a third series, which, as they are immediately connected with thebolt I denominate the bolt levers.

the manner ofy constructing the several permutation locks that have,within a few years been the subject of Letters Patent, that I dispenseentirely with the slides and tuinblers used in most of those locks andsubstitute therefor levers working upon suitable fulcra, or pivots, andit is from this circumstance that I have been induced to denominate mylock the permutation lever lock.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 represents my lock with the capplate removed, the respective parts employed by me being shown'in theposition which they occupy when the bolt is shot out. Fig. 2 shows thesituation of the bolt levers and It will f be seen by those who areacquainted with;

of other parts connected with the rear end of the bolt when it isretracted. Fig. 3 is a side view of the bit of the key showing threepermutation pieces only to operate upon the respective series of threelevers which are all that I thought it necessary to represent as beingsufficient to exemplify .completely the construction and operation ofall the parts.

A, A, Fig. 1 is the hoop which' surrounds the key, the bit of which,when it is first entered in the key-hole'occupies the situationrepresented by the red lines. Fig. t shows the hoop A in perspective, aa being the open space in it for admitting the bit .of the key; and Z) anotch to receive a pin o' on the circular plate in the cap plate throughwhich the key passes, said notch and pin serving to cause the hoop andcircular plate to revolve together. Fig. 5 shows in perspective thatpart of the cap plate B, B, which contains the key-hole, a portion ofthe cap piece B' which covers the revolving plate C being cut away forthe purpose of showing said plate. When the keyis entered the upper sideof the bit will be flush with the top of the plate G and as the whole ofthe bit is surrounded by the hoop A and is covered by the plate C itwill not be possible therefore whether the key be in or out toexamineany part of the interior by the aid of light, or to introduce any kindof instrument by which to operate .on the levers. In each of thesefigures, where the same parts are represented they are designated by thesame letters of reference.

D D is the outermost of the key levers of which as well as of the.others there may be any desired number superimposed on each other;these have their fulcrum pin at. c. E E is the outermost of theintermediate levers which levers have their fulcrum at (Z. The keylevers are in contact with and act upon the intermediate leversl atI thepoint D'; Springs e act on the intermediate levers and keep them and thekey levers down when not raiscd by the key. The key levers pass througha notch in the strong partition piece F F which extends from plate toplate of the lock and sustains the hoop A. The bolt levers are shown atG G' G these not covering each other as do the other levers when thebolt is shot out. The bolt levers G are connected with the intermediatelevers E by means of the auxiliary levers H which are acted on by the weach carry a toothed talon g; these talons being connected with thelevers by making an annular countersink about halfway through the latterleaving a pin in the center on which the talons turn, the talons beingalso reduced one half in their thickness at the joint part h; each ofthe talons carries a claw or point i which are to engage in notches orteeth made in the bolt levers as shown at j on the descending arm of thebolt levers; these talons operate in a way to be presently described. Aspring k on the 'oints of each of the auXiliary levers compels them andthe bolt levers to follow the rise and fall of the intermediate levers Ekeeping both in place for action. o

The auxiliary levers that carry the talons will in all the positions ofthe bolt J J be kept in contact with the toe E' of the intermediatelevers, and as these intermediate levers descend on the throwing out ofthe bolt, the talons g will be lifted to such height as will enable theclaws 'i to engage``-with` the teeth on the arms j of the'bolt-leve'r;and they will be forced into them by the stud Z which being made fast tothe bolt is brought into contact with the backs of said talons. When thebolt J is retracted, the stud m which is also made fast to the bolt willdisengage the claws of the talons from the teeth j and leave the boltlevers free from their action. On the bolt J there are also made fasttwo studs 'a n' which are at such distance apart as just to allow thebolt levers G to pass between them. When the bolt is forced forward theouter ends of these levers will be raised and will be'nearly in contactwith the uppermost stud 'n' as shown in Fig. 1. The claws serve to bringthese levers into the proper position for passing between, the studs n11,' ancl until this is done the bolt cannot be thrown back by anyimproper pressure made upon the key talon 0,' but as the ends E' of theintermediate levers descend by the raising of said levers by the keybits in the process of unlocking, each olaw .will draw its appropriatelever G- down to the proper position for entering between the studs andwhen the bolt is shot back, the talons g and the bolt levers G will bein the position shown in Fig. 2.` To prevent the pushing back of thebolt when it is partially protruded and the bolt levers are between thestuds a n', I use a latch K Figs. l and 2 which when the bolt levers arenot elevated bears upon the upper edge of the bolt J, and is receivedwithin the notches p at its rear end as shown in Fig. 2, the spring (1causing ;set forth it to bear down on said notches. To the latch c'alifting piece 7' is made fast, and when the bolt levers G are raised,one of them will be brought into contact with the lifter w and disengageit from the notch p thereby allowing the bolt to be moved back; thelatch will be held in its raised position by the spring catch 8 until apin t projecting out from the rear end of the bolt, frees it from saidspring 'catch when the latch will again be brought into contact with theedge of the bolt.

By the employment of the intermediate i levers E which are not actedupon directly by the key,and which cannot be reached by the insertion ofany instrument into the lock it will be impossible to draw or forceeitherI of these levers down for the purpose of ascertaining when one ofthe bolt levers is in a position that would enable it to pass betweenthe studs n n' and even were the hoop A removed the key leversthemselves would cut of all access to the intermediate levers throughthe key hole. The intention of this peculiar construction has thereforeit is believed been fully attained, namely, to prevent the ascertainingby forcing the bolt back theposition of those devices which require aparticular arrangement to admit of its being actually retracted. i

Having thus fully described the manner in which I combine and arrangethe respective parts of my permutation lever lock, I do hereby declarethat I do not claim as of my invention either of the parts of this locktaken individually but only as combined and coperatin with other partsin the manner What I do claim as new and as of my invention isl. Themanner of arranging and combining the hoop A with the revolving plate Cthe partition piece F and with the key levers D; the pin that receivesthe barrel being placed eccentrically with the hoop, and the hoop andthe plate C revolving with each other 4as described. i

2. I also claim the manner set forth of arranging and combining witheach other the key levers D D, the intermediate levers E E, theauxiliary levers H and the bolt levers G which are raised and lowered bysaid auxiliary levers, the whole of them having fulcrum pins on whichthey rise and fall and not Operating as slides in a direct line; by

*which arrangement they arerendered more claim to the special armngementherein the respective parts concerned in this opermade known. ationbeing arranged and acting substan- 4. I clam the manner of employing atially as described. latch K in combination With the bolt J, le- FRANCISB. PYE. 5 Vers G, lifting piece and the spring 8 for Witnesses:

the purpose of preventing the pushing back THos. P. JONES, of the boltWhen it is but partially shot out; EDWIN L. BRUNDAGE.

